Hindu News

Hindu News

Hindu News

Hindu News

Friday, March 7, 2014

I’m not surprised

SATNARAYAN Maharaj, head of the nation’s largest Hindu organisation, the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) — yesterday said he was not surprised at Archbishop of Port-of-Spain Joseph Harris’ observation that Carnival was an exhibition of vulgarity.
Maharaj was responding to statements by Archbishop Harris during his Ash Wednesday homily at Our Lady of Perpetual Help RC Church, Harris Promenade in San Fernando. Harris attacked the behaviour of some masqueraders during Carnival Season, which he described as symptomatic of the pervasive lawlessness in society.

Maharaj said the women in this country who are normally sensible young people, seem to lose all their inhibitions with the sound of Carnival and the soca.

“Now we are seeing them virtually naked on the streets, with just a panty on and they airbrush their breasts. If at normal times, the police were to see a lady on the street dressed in a panty, they would arrest that person yet at Carnival time this is permitted. Nobody raises an eyebrow,” he observed.

Maharaj noted that Carnival was supposed to be a religious festival and it never comes into play. He called those persons who attend churches to receive their ashes after partying at the fetes and in the streets, hypocrites.

“They go for ashes, for what? They already planned how they were going to celebrate Carnival a year in advance,” he said.

Maharaj said taxpayers’ money was being spent to corrupt the minds of the nation’s children.

“Taxpayers’ money should not be spent on behaviour like this because the community pays a heavy price in the long run. We have no role models for our children,” he said.

source :newsday.co.tt




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Bharat Nivas celebrates the relevance of Sanskrit

Lt. Governor of Puducherry Virendra Kataria looking at an exhibit on Sanskrit language, after inaugurating an exhibition at Bharat Nivas in Auroville on Thursday. Photo: S.S. Kumar
The Hindu Lt. Governor of Puducherry Virendra Kataria looking at an exhibit on Sanskrit language, after inaugurating an exhibition at Bharat Nivas in Auroville on Thursday. Photo: S.S. Kumar

In most people’s perception, Sanskrit is a dead language, and there is very little correlation between the language and the modern world. The newer generation knows very little of the language and it is thought to be an extremely difficult language.
Bharat Nivas is now hosting a series of events that will help dispel these myths about the language.
Dance performance
Part of the celebrations was a dance performance based on the works of Jiddu Krishnamurthi on Thursday. The performance was by five dancers in five different styles – Smitha Madhav for Bharatnatyam, Masaka Ono for Odissi, Prateeksha Kashi for Kuchupudi, Rashmi Menon for Mohiniattam and Achutha Manasa dancing in the Kathak style.
The show titled ‘Essence of Life’ is the brainchild of Dega Dev Kumar Reddy, who produced the show.
The idea of the show is to bring the philosophical teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurthi to the common man through dance. During the process of creating the show, we made a decision to translate Krishnamurthi’s work into Sanskrit, because the elegant power of the language goes beautifully with the dance form, Mr. Reddy explained.
It is also a way to try and bring back tradition to the younger generation. This is why we incorporated traditional art forms and Sanskrit with modern existential problems that are faced by everyone.
The performance was divided into three parts – Essence of Meditation, Essence of Life and the Thillana, How to be free from the self, he said.
On Thursday evening, Lieutenant Governor Virendra Kataria, who attended the show, also inaugurated the Ujjeevanam exhibition that shows how Sanskrit is also a modern language. Modern philosophical and even scientific lessons are present in many of the ancient Sanskrit texts.
The exhibition also features panels with little known factoids on Sanskrit, like how the first words spoken through the phonograph were in Sanskrit by Max Mueller.
Along with the exhibition, on Saturday there is a workshop at Kalakendra on chanting in Sanskrit and the magic and logic of the language from 9.30am and a talk on the Relevance of Sanskrit in South Indian Languages, organiser of the events Tapas said. 

source :thehindu.com

Indian Hindus barred from entering Nankana Sahib on visa issue in Lahore

Five Indian Hindus including two women have been barred from entering the Gurdwara Nankana Sahib near here as they had no visa to enter the district, where the Sikh shrine is located.
A source in Evacuee Trust Property Board told PTI that the Hindus - Vaneet Gupta, Neelam Gupta, Narindar Kumar, Hari Om and Vijay Lakhshami - reached Gurdwara Janamasthan, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, by a car from Lahore yesterday.
The Gurdwara authorities, however, handed them over to the ETPB officials after finding that they had no visa on their passports for the district, some 80 kilometres from Lahore.
When asked about the alleged visa violation, the Hindus said they "wanted to visit the Sikh holy place out of respect", the source said. The Hindus had come here to attend festivities in connection with the 'Shivratri' at historic Katasraj Mandir in Chakwal district, some 250 kilometres from here.
When contacted, Deputy Secretary (Hindu Affairs) Azhar Sulahry said the Hindus in question had visa for Lahore and Chakwal only. "The Hindu pilgrims were sent back to Gurdawar Dera Sahib Lahore from Nankana and today they left for India along with other members of the group," he said.
Over 150 Hindu pilgrims had arrived here on February 25 to attend the Shivratri festival at the Katasraj Mandir.

source :dnaindia.com

Successful 3rd Hindu Youth Conference: The Power of Youth

3 March, 2014
Successful 3rd Hindu Youth Conference: Dynamic You – The Power of Youth
Hindu Youth New Zealand (HYNZ) and New Zealand Hindu Students forum jointly organized a very successful 3rd New Zealand Hindu Youth Conference on Saturday 1st March at Aotea Centre in Auckland. The theme of the conference was Dynamic You – the power of youth. It was a conference calling for young people to realise the power within through being inspired. The conference was attended by 150 participants.
The conference was a step towards bringing together youth from different works of life and areas of interest to showcase their capacity, capability and call for the delegates to search for and realise their hidden potential.
The day began with a diya lighting ceremony in which invited dignitaries – Member of Parliament, Community Board member and Chair of Office of Ethnic Affairs – together with youth representatives from youth groups - Bharatiya Samaj Charitable Trust, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, Chinmaya Mission, Ram Mandir Youth Group, Indiance Dance Group, Sri Sathya Sai Organization and Hindu Youth Australia.
President of HYNZ, Nitika Sharma, welcomed the guests introducing all delegates to HYNZ, it’s activities and achievements in the preceding years, calling all delegates to participate and make the most of the day. Murali Magesan delivered the key note address highlighting that Hindu’s make up 2% of New Zealand’s population; as a group were significantly more qualified in comparison to the total population and filled a high percentage of professional occupations.
Speakers in the Inspire session highlighted their motivators, challenges and learning from their road to success in the different sectors and encouraged young people to think about participating more in their respective areas: Female youth participation in frontline (Police) service (Telisha Kumar); Traditional music participation at international level (Krishna Ramarathinam); and Technology used for professional and economic advancement (Kunal Bhargava).
Ministry of Youth Development ran two workshops encouraging participants to learn about the importance of youth voice in decision-making (Your Voice), and equipping themselves with skills to be an effective leader (Your Leadership). Calling on all participants to be agents of social change, speakers in the Be the Change session highlighted their experiences and ways of addressing areas of: Poverty (Divya Hariharan), Creative industries and Collaboration (Bhavesh Bhuthadia), Youth positive engagement (Akshita Nama) and Character building through dharmic youth classes (Rahul Chopra).
The day also included discussion on youth getting involved in city planning for the future, the position of women in the Hindu society and experiences of leadership building program (Outward Bound) attended by two HYNZ sponsored young people. Fun energizers, team building exercises and a quiz was also part of the day.
The day concluded with an exercise on brainstorming for activities that HYNZ could get involved in to address youth issues and areas of interest.
HYNZ is committed to building capability in young people. For further information on HYNZ contact Nitika Sharma: neatyka@gmail.com.
The organizing committee would like to extend their appreciation to the event sponsors and the support from all participants, Hindu Organizations, Temples and Associations.
ENDS
source : scoop.co.nz

Raleigh show celebrates 19th century Hindu ambassador

— The life of a monk credited with introducing yoga and the Hindu religion to the west in the late 19th century will be the subject of a show in Raleigh on Saturday.
The show was created to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Swami Vivekananda, who died in 1902 at the age of 39. It combines live performance with laser animation by laser artist Manick Sorcar.
The show, Swamiji, begins at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, where Swami Vivekananda spoke of religious tolerance and Vedanta, the philosophical underpinnings of Hinduism.
Swamiji begins at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Fletcher Opera Theater in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh. It is sponsored by the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of North Carolina, based in Morrisville.

sorce: newsobserver dot com

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Residents march against mounting of Hindu statue

Kisumu, Kenya: Kisumu residents engaged police in running battles in the city centre to protest the construction of a statue by members of the Hindu religion along Nyerere Road. Police were forced to lobby teargas canisters at the protestors who had set the statue ablaze. The incident affected traffic on the busy road, as the angry mob converged on different corners playing hide and seek with the security officers. The protesters, Muslims and Christians, argued that erecting a religious statue in the heart of the town portrayed Kisumu as a city of the Hindu religion. The statue, which was constructed near Aga Khan Hall along Nyerere Road, was meant to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Sri Guru Singh Sabha temple in Kisumu.

“Christians are not allowed to bow down to other gods and the location of the statue means everyone using this road bows,” said Erick Otieno, a resident. The statue is located on a roundabout next to the temple and the residents argued that road users were being distracted and that its continued presence could lead to accidents. Kenyan heroes The demonstrators asked the county government to build statues of Kenyan heroes. “Even we Christians and Muslims don’t erect statues of our gods on public roads; we do it inside places of worship, so why should Hindus be allowed to erect theirs on public roads?” asked Mr Otieno. On Tuesday, Christians from the Ministry of Repentance and Holiness Church demonstrated against the monument, saying it would promote idolatry in the region.

Kisumu Central Deputy OCPD Joe Lekuta asked the residents to appeal to the county government, which approved the placement of the statue. “The construction of the statue was not a coincidence. It was allowed by the county government so do not engage in acts that demean the gods of other people,” said Lekuta. He warned that police would take action against those who engage in destruction of the monument.
source: standardmedia.co.ke
Kisumu, Kenya: Kisumu residents engaged police in running battles in the city centre to protest the construction of a statue by members of the Hindu religion along Nyerere Road. Police were forced to lobby teargas canisters at the protestors who had set the statue ablaze. The incident affected traffic on the busy road, as the angry mob converged on different corners playing hide and seek with the security officers. The protesters, Muslims and Christians, argued that erecting a religious statue in the heart of the town portrayed Kisumu as a city of the Hindu religion. The statue, which was constructed near Aga Khan Hall along Nyerere Road, was meant to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Sri Guru Singh Sabha temple in Kisumu.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/thecounties/article/2000104181/residents-march-against-mounting-of-hindu-statue
Kisumu, Kenya: Kisumu residents engaged police in running battles in the city centre to protest the construction of a statue by members of the Hindu religion along Nyerere Road. Police were forced to lobby teargas canisters at the protestors who had set the statue ablaze. The incident affected traffic on the busy road, as the angry mob converged on different corners playing hide and seek with the security officers. The protesters, Muslims and Christians, argued that erecting a religious statue in the heart of the town portrayed Kisumu as a city of the Hindu religion. The statue, which was constructed near Aga Khan Hall along Nyerere Road, was meant to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Sri Guru Singh Sabha temple in Kisumu.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/thecounties/article/2000104181/residents-march-against-mounting-of-hindu-statue
Kisumu, Kenya: Kisumu residents engaged police in running battles in the city centre to protest the construction of a statue by members of the Hindu religion along Nyerere Road. Police were forced to lobby teargas canisters at the protestors who had set the statue ablaze. The incident affected traffic on the busy road, as the angry mob converged on different corners playing hide and seek with the security officers. The protesters, Muslims and Christians, argued that erecting a religious statue in the heart of the town portrayed Kisumu as a city of the Hindu religion. The statue, which was constructed near Aga Khan Hall along Nyerere Road, was meant to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Sri Guru Singh Sabha temple in Kisumu.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/thecounties/article/2000104181/residents-march-against-mounting-of-hindu-statue

Sibal condemns Hindu Sena protest against Caravan magazine over Aseemanand's interview

New Delhi, Feb.7 (ANI): Minister of Communication and Information Technology Kapil Sibal on Friday criticized Hindu Sena workers for protesting outside the office of Caravan Magazine, for running the interview of Swami Aseemanand, in which he allegedly implicated Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat for his involvement in the 2007 terror attacks.
Sibal asserted that the mindset of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is anti-freedom of expression.
"This is a violent attack on the freedom of expression, and the experience of the NDA should make you recognize and understand that this is something they did even during 1999-2004, when people from Tehelka were able to expose them. What did they do? They set up a commission to destroy them. Same thing is happening now," he told media here today.
"Caravan is not a Congress agent; it is a periodical which investigates thoroughly some issues. They have investigated what Aseemanand has been saying. And they stand by their story. And now they are attacking them. The mindset of BJP is anti-freedom of expression. The mindset of BJP is to destroy whoever comes on their way," he added.
Earlier in the day, Hindu Sena workers staged a protest outside Caravan magazine's office over the Aseemanand controversial interview.
"If any Hindu leader or organization is accused of terror then it's an accusation on all 100 crore Hindus. Caravan Magazine should be shut down or else Hindu Sena will shut it down," a Hindu Sena worker Vishnu Gupta said. (ANI)

source:in.news.yahoo.com